| Show ROBBERS ROOST by zane grey r bervia W to W to 0 SYNOPSIS jim wall young cowpuncher cr from wyoming ek a new geld field in utah ile iio meets hank hays who tells him be 10 Is in working for or an englishman herrick nay hays and others are plotting t to 0 teal steal their employers cattle anil and money with hays jim wall goes to her ricks ranch hays and his lieutenants drive oil off a bunch of cattle lie heeseman eseman la Is hays rival among the cattle rustlers jim Is sent to meet rise miss herrick herrack Herr lck hays betrays unusual interest in the girls coming well wall finds himself failing in love with helen and he fears hays has designs on the girl jim coaches her in riding western style and finally kisses her she Is angry and dds misses him but relents and asks him not to leave the ranch hays men return from the drive having sold the cattle and brought back the money A quick getaway Is imperative hays tells them to go on ahead that he will loin join them he comes with helen herrick a captive hays explains that he stole helen tor for ransom realizing that helen will be worse oil off it if she falls into clutches jim wall does nothing Heeser Hec semana nans riders come in pursuit hays leads the gang into nto a canyon retreat the robbers roost latimer one of hays gang wounded with heeseman tells jim that hays has held out some of the money he stole from herrick Herr lck in the roost jim keeps a watchful eye on helen Hees omans riders are seen approaching ni and the desperadoes prepare to fight CHAPTER IX continued 15 1 I should shiver she did struck nays flays hair tri trigger ger gun cocked cocke dright right into my belly an says will you tie this villain an swear by your honor not to release him or allow any of these other men to do so or will you have me shoot you howd she get that gun wall wal she snatched it qui quick chern ern how bow an when she cocked it with both hands it went off ff ba baegl ng I 1 the bullet went berneen hanks flanks legs tickled him you can see the hole in his bis pants seared scared ily bawd you never see a man so scared sc areil thet gurl cool as a cucumber cocked the gun again ant an held hays flays up theu then fill all of us we was sittia at the table she made us all stand hands high an then she performed thet little trick with flanks gun agin my gizzard jim I 1 hope to die if I 1 go gold cold an stiff cut but I 1 promised on my word of honor as a robber thet id tie hank up an make inake tile the other fellers play square it was so funny ton to thet I 1 near bust hays suon soon as tie he was helpless got over his scare an then was he be madl mad I 1 I 1 reckon no one op on this earth saw a madder man lie cussed so terrible thet she made me gag him well ill be gasped jim no wonder we was wed had breakfast an all hank was train to face us fellers ill III say lie came clean jim ile ie divided all the money he got front from herrick nn an his sister an tile the gold things an ilLi monds fellers he said 11 1 I could lie till an say I 1 meant to give this to ti you later cut but im not built thet wity WIIT I 1 double crossed you all first time in my life I 1 meant to k keep beep it all an the ransom for the girl but now there wont be no ransom for im not goin to give her up ashes mine an I 1 can do as I 1 wants want an if any ally of you dont like it you vou can make your kids kick now wal we was so plumb flabbergasted thet we see the gurl who came close on tile the sun side aide of happys happas shelter she heard the whole d n W show jim I 1 wish you could I 1 leaie a e seen her nhen she stepped up tip falank to hank I 1 dont know what did it meche her eyes but he shore wilted it was then she snatched his gun so tile the deal ejaculated jim what are you going to do dont ask me I 1 gave my word an il keep it it for thet filet matter the rest of our outfit air fer tile the gurl ransom or no ransom suddenly jim awoke out of his stupefaction to remember tile the approach of Ilc eseman smoky I 1 know what youre nil all going to do and k klit fight lit he hashed asbed fl curtly Ilce semans outfit Is coming coaling I 1 sighted them perhaps three miles traveling slow blow but sure weve no time to pack an get away wee got to find the best place to stand an fight nn an pack our stuff into it pronto cried smoky coolly SO sa its come I 1 reckoned on thet git gil busy men jim strode under the shelter to face miss bliss herrick she had heard beard for she blie nog as white were nil all but surprised by fleese niang outfit lie said abruptly we tl ewt ut fight you will be worse off it if you fall into their hands im sorry norry must release hays flays we ri need cd him too latel intel she exclaimed tack your things thing quickly and hurry burry over to the cave on this side then jim picked up nays flays gun from the table and ran out first lie rem removed ocl olt gag then in terse terms lie stated le hio next he released the robber from his painful fix and handed him the gun heeseman nc eseman huhl wall wal so go be iti hoys hays said facing jim with an air of 0 finality that intimated relief how far are arc they away he asked two miles weve got halt half an hour debbe did you to look fer the bosses hosse sIll eight horses in the valley others not in sight fine scout you air air now how come you spy them soon enough ter fer us to rustle out of ayar 1 I have seen them half a mile sooner snapped jim they came out from behind a bank hells firel tell thet to me you was slee sleeping pin youre a liar flashed jim leaping clear of the others open your trap to me again like ilke that say its you shet his trap replied hays stridently or git a dose of 0 the medicine I 1 gave brad lincoln not from you you yellow dog of a woman thief ill 1 smoky slocum ran out in time to get in front of jim ayar aiyar lie he called piercingly Is tills this a time fer us to fight each other cool down tim jim make allowances fer hays lies hes drunk 1 I dont care a d n if theres ten outfits on our trail lie ile cant talk to me that way and smoky I 1 reckon youre presuming on friendship shore I 1 am returned slocum hurriedly ill not do it again jim hays Is what you called him but leave your dispute till we settle with heeseman lle eseman all right youre talking sense re plied jim lie ile had been quick to crasp grasp the opening made by hays flays there must be ten riders in Hee heesemann semans outfit r wal thet suits me rejoined tile the robber harshly now ow think fast snapped smoky hays pulled himself together mac you an jeff run to fetch what bosses losses you can find quick jack you an jims rifle already raised swerved a trifle cracked the hat went flying smoky an wall hustle the grub cook kit packs an beds into thet cave care across the wash ill git up high an watch when I 1 all di dig fer cover you almin to fight or run queried smoky we might git packed light it if some thin holds them up but ai we cant leave the way we come in dirty devil too big high has stumbled on the next best way it if we had plenty of time but rustle everybody mac and jeff were already in lum bering flight up the oval and happy jack not concerned enough to stop his hustling hIst ling was vas sacking ills his utensils hays flays made for the notch in the bluff west of the cabin jim sprang into action while smoky dashed off toward the cottonwood grove upon jims first return trip from the cap lie encountered the girl burdened with fill her effects helen ill carry that 11 hurry u rry weve no time to lose lom at the back of the cave there was a crack deep enough to protect helen lie he directed her to hide inside and await developments jim ran on toward tile the camp resolving to withhold a shell in its his rioe rifle and to keep a sharp watch on hays flays the next quarter of an i hour was filled with strenuous and unceasing action their united efforts collected all the supplies utensils sn saddles dilles and packs pack 3 and scle several ril of the beds in the three cornered cave back and to one side of the shick shack A huge lilt ge slab of stone lay across the top of this triangular notch in tile cliff the wall had been hollo hollowed Ned by the action of water A small stream flowed out from the babe of tile wall it was the best place for defense it lo 10 t the lie oval and jim believed flays outfit could hold it indefinitely though they save tile the horses if it came to a siege they could be released CHAPTER X smoky came came panting in with hays pack and started off again enough smoky called jim slocum returned No Noth thin ln left icett hanks flanks bed lie he panted 1 I locate met 1 I listen ten P 1 what do you hear bear bosses Hoss Hos ses cs jim keep your eye peeled on oil the cliff said smoky and stole forhan 1 I 1 under cover of 0 the brush presently a white puff of smoke showed above the ragged rim spang I 1 the tight was on one of 0 hays men wages bridges set let out a hoarse bawl and swayed over almost losing his balance jim looked no more at him but concentrated his gaze on the rim another puff of white 1 something dark a mans slouch hut hat bobbed up jims rifle already raised swerved a trifle cracked the hat went flying the horses came over the bench frightened but not stampeding anil and mae mac drove them into the corral this was around the corner from the range of the sharpshooter of the rim bridges reeling on the horse followed mae mac who ran out of the corral to catch him as he fell then as they came along close to the wall hays flays arrived from the other direction I leeseman with his outfit nine in all he heaved scat scattering terin to to surround the roost but they cant cross below us an across there its out of range were all right A bullet thudded into the wall followed by the report of a rifle duck back I 1 that was from somewhere else shouted hays flays they dove twenty feet farther back here they were apparently safe except from the grassy ridge of the oval in front which it was unlikely any sharpshooters could read reach in daylight after it a careful study jim crept into the brush stirred by a renewal of firing aring from the west rim elspa of white cloud thinning on the light wind located the positions of the shooters first jim peered through the growth of brush directly in front almost at once he caught a movement of a dark object through a crevice in the hie rim the distance was great for accurate shooting at so small a target but with a rest he drew a coarse steady rim aim and fired once the object lopped flopped over A shrill cry unmistakable to any man used to gunplay rent the air jim knew he had reached one of tile the lic eseman gang gan to disable him it if no more next enst instant 1 nt a raking fire swept the brush on both sides of jim ile he dropped down into file he cave smoky stood there in the act of climbing they near got me rang out jim 1 I lilt hit one of them way over where they shot nt at bridges theres a bunch of them hid on that cliff to the rig right lit of the outlet you know where jeff went up to scout jim they got us located replied slocum Sl gravely sure but so long as they cant line on us in here P they can move all around an pretty soon heeseman will figger thet men behind tile the high center in front can shoot straight in ayar below the ridge now look sharp smoky or they might get a couple of shots in first wall wal it if they do I 1 hope both bullets lodge in hanks gizzard my sentiments exactly smoky I 1 saw something shine tip of a rifle right tt to the right ali ah 1 ill take the first feller jim one two three the rifles cracked in unison jims mark sprang convulsively up and plunged down to roll and weave out of sight the man smoky had shot at sank flat and lay still next moment a volley banged from the cliff and a storm of bullets swept hissing and spa nging uncomfortably close jim slid and leaped to the floor of the cave below smoky by lying down lowered the alie rifles to him ana then came scrambling after hays had slouched hack back to them followed by happy jack gilme jeffs gun an belt hays said and recell ng them he buckled them over his own next lie ile opened his pick pack to take out a box ot of rifle shells which lie he broke open t to 0 drop tile the contents in his coat pocket on tbt je left side after that he opened ills shirt to strip off a broad black money belt this was what had made him bulge so and give the impression of stoutness when in fact he was lean ile he hung tills this belt over a projecting point of wall in it case I 1 dont git back he added an theres a bundle of chicken feed aban change e to ID my pack there was something gloomy and splendid about him then fear of god or man or death was not in him rifle in hand he be crept to tile the corner on the left and boldly exposed himself drawing a volley of shots froni from two quarters then he disappeared hays ideal idea asked jim ile he must know a way to sneak around on them A metallic spa spanking nging ng sound accompanied rather than followed by a shot then a sodden thud right at hand choked further speech happy jack had been cut short in one of ills his low w whistles hist les ile he swayed a second upright then uttering tin an awful groan he fell smoky leaped to film hent bent over dead I 1 hit in the temple thet bullet come from it glanced from a rock I 1 know tile the sound 1 jim the only safe place from thet Is ayar huggin buggle this corner declared smoky an there aint room enough for fer the two of us keep it smoky IM not going to get lilt this is my day I 1 feel something lit in my bones but bill its not death illuk huh I 1 feel so methin too clear to my marrow no an its sickish an cold jim ill sneak out an crawl back of them taets my idee I 1 dont have wrong edees at this stage of a fight that was the last lie he spoke to jim muttering Mutt erlna to himself hini self he laid a huge roll of bills under the bolt belt hays had bad deposited on the little haile shelf of rock then lie he vanished TO DU BE CONTINUED |
